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History of slavery in the united states essay
Slavery's past in the United Satets
Slavery's past in the United Satets
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The Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 were attempts to bring the nation together but ended up pulling it apart. The Missouri Compromise's goal was to end the feud on the border for free and slave states, end the feud on Missouri becoming a free or slave state. The solution for the border was to have an imaginary line at 36 degrees, 30' minutes anything above the line, with an acception of Missouri, would be free and anything below the line would be slave. The solution to Missouri becoming free or slave was Maine would become a free state and Missouri would become a slave state to keep the number of slave states and the number of free states equal. In time the Missouri Compromise would tear the nation apart despite its intentions.
The Missouri compromise was a bill introduced to stop the fighting between the states about slavery. Each state before the Missouri compromise was determining wither the states were a free or slave state but when the Missouri compromise was proposed it stated that every state above the 36 degree and 30 degree line were to be free. This officially separated the North from the South. The Missouri compromise along with other problems about slavery is resolved when the civil war comes around. The Missouri compromise and the Mexican American war are similar because America kept wanting to expand and the Mexican American war helped America do that.
The Missouri Compromise came as a two part solution to the admission problem. First, Missouri gained admission to the Union as a slave state, with a provision that portions of
Thesis Both Nationalism and Sectionalism developed concurrently during the Era of Good Feelings. The two main reasons why nationalism increased was because of Henry Clay’s American System and Monroe’s policy to increase nationalism. Clay’s AS created a better national infrastructure that tightened America together. Monroe’s policy was to promote national unity and America’s power, which strengthens nationalism.
The Compromise of 1850 was an attempt by the U.S Congress to settle divisive issues between the North and South, including slavery expansion, apprehension in the North of fugitive slaves, and slavery in the District of Columbia. The Compromise of 1850 failed because Senator John C. Calhoun from the South and Senator William Seward from the North could not agree on what Henry Clay was putting down. Part of the compromise was to make California a slavery free state which benefits the North, and enforcing a stricter fugitive slave law which benefits the South. Both the North and South opposed what the other was benefiting from. What sparked the failure of the Compromise was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
Although in the Missouri Compromise, Missouri became a slave state and Maine became a free state, it was an example of disunity. All new states north of the Mason-Dixon Line would be free and new states southward would be slave states. As a result, there was also an unbalanced sectional population between the North and South. (Doc. E & F).
The Missouri Compromise was definite attempt by the government to shove the issue out of view. By the time the Missouri Compromise was introduced, a few northern states were already in the process of abolishing slavery, as was England. The government was finally recognizing the cruelties of slavery but did not want to anger the southern plantation owners. Thus, they created the Missouri Compromise in order to ease their guilt and face the least contempt. The Missouri Compromise was only able to increase the brewing conflict of slavery between northern states and southern states.
The Compromise of 1850 states that,”... there were equal numbers of slave and free states in the United States.” But, they totally ignored the Missouri Compromise and the Missouri and the Compromise of 1850 clashed and ran over each other(Document 1). This shows that it was not a good idea to bring in another compromise that would collide with another compromise. This also shows that the compromises were not fair to each other.
Initially, the first Missouri compromise of 1820 was an agreement between South and North involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territory. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel of 36, 30' line except within the boundary of the proposed state of Missouri. In other words, the imaginary 36, 30 lines across the southern border of Missouri stated that anything above that line is a free state and anything below that line is a sate. The issue of this compromise was that the admission of Missouri as a slave state would give slave states (southern) control over the senate. This crisis was averted when Maine was admitted to the union to balance out the states.
These were a big deal involving slavery because they either strengthened slavery or made it seem like it was going to end all together. To the South, the thought of slavery ending was a complete disaster. In Document 9: Excerpt from the Dred Scott Decision, shows how Scott saw the Missouri Compromise. He says, “(I)t is the opinion of this court that the Act of Congress (the Missouri Compromise) which prohibited a citizen from holding and owning property of this kind (slaves) in the territory of the United States north of the line therein mentioned,...” This quote from his speech says he thinks that the Missouri Compromise was a good thing because it prohibited people who own slaves to cross the North and South border with their “property” or slaves.
Compromise, a resolution of a conflict that is achieved only if both sides come to a mutual conscientious, was used to terminate political conflicts. The North and South relied heavily on this aspect since they had two distinct perspectives regarding slavery. However, compromise did not have the great effect as it was visioned because it furthered tension between the North and South by rewarding the South fully with slavery. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 initially was seen as just because there was a 36°30 N line established to balance the amount of free and slave states.
However, the Missouri Compromise caused some problems. The compromise equaled the concerns and interests in the North and South, but the South was upset about how Congress gave itself the power to create and pass laws dealing with slavery. Much of the North was upset because Congress let slavery spread into another state. There were people who didn’t want to compromise, and others who did, such as Henry Clay.
According to McNamara, “The Missouri Compromise was the first of the major compromises of the 19th century intended to ease regional tensions over the issue of slavery… accomplished it immediate goal.” In the 1800s, the issues of slavery divided the nation. The North wanted no part of a nation that undertook in slavery because
The reason for the Missouri compromise was because Missouri wanted to become a slave state that came out of the Louisiana Purchase. The government did not like this because it would make the slave states outnumber the free states in America. But the government did not want to anger the other slave states by saying no to Missouri in becoming a slave state. So another compromise was made in order to keep the country from fighting. Being the Missouri compromise of 1820.(Jeffersonian Anti-Slavery and Missouri Crisis
Several compromises were made over the issue of slavery between the Three-Fifths Compromise in the Constitution and the Civil War. Most of these compromises were made in the hope of avoiding a civil war between the North and the South, but they just prolonged the inevitable battle. The Missouri Compromise was one of the first federal laws that focused solely on slavery, including the balance of slave and free states in the federal government. When Missouri applied for statehood in 1817, there was a balance in the Senate of 11 slave states and 11 free states. Debate broke out in Congress, owing to the fact that if Missouri was added as a free state or slave state, it would tip the balance towards that side with two more votes in the Senate.
